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Yo Rayne, Math Shit

I know I already posted this on cosmo, but maybe with it's own separate thread it would gain validity.

I am trying to calculate much explosive energy an Asgaurd lazer has. Without boring you with the scifi specifics to much, basically I first tried to find it out using the power output of the space ships power source, which is 1.21 gigawatts. Using a calculator found here http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/...on-%5Bkton%5D/, I did gigawatts to kilotons, getting a mere 1.041108987 kilotons, which is pretty pathetic for the strongest weapon in stargate, so I assume the output is wrong.

So I tried something else. Another fact is the power source can hold the weight of the ocean over the city about the size of Manhattan. For this I first took the weight of water per meter 1000 kilograms, multiplied it by average depth of the ocean: 3,790 meters, then by area of Manhattan 87500 meters. Finally I multiplied that by the gravitational constant of 9.8, which should get the force in joules. So you get 3249925000000 joules, which using the same converter is again a low 0.776750717 Kilotons.

Force from can be transphered to energy, which then can be transphered to explosive power. 9.8 is the constant I believe you need to make this conversion from some quick internet research, so I might be wrong.

Force from can be transphered to energy, which then can be transphered to explosive power. 9.8 is the constant I believe you need to make this conversion from some quick internet research, so I might be wrong.

You're definitely wrong. 9.8 is the acceleration due to gravity of the earth. It can probably convert a mass to the amount of force necessary to move that mass against the effect of gravity but you'd need a lot more data to figure out the energy/power.

Average ocean depth = 4.3 km.
Area of manhattan = 87 sq.km
Volume of the water above the city = 374 cubic km. = 374 x 10^9 cubic meters.
Density of water = 1 gram per cubic centimeter = 0.000001 grams per cubic meter.
Weight of the ocean water = 374000 g
Force required to lift up the mass (let's assume acceleration is equal to 10 m/s^2 since it needs to be greater than the acceleration due to gravity, which is 9.8, to counteract it) = 3740000 N
Work that needs to be done to lift it to a height of, say, 1 km = 3740000000 joules

anyway, weight of the water = 374 x 10^12 kg
downward force due to gravity = 374 x 10^13 N
you'll need a greater force to counteract it. lets assume it to be around 400 x 10^13 N
the net force on the water = 26 x 10^13 N
the acceleration produced due to that force = 0.8 m/s^2
to scale a distance of 800 m, it would take (2x800)/0.8 = 2000 seconds
the work done to move the water to 800 m = 20800 x 10^13 J = 2.08 x 10^17 J
so the required power is approximately 1 x 10^14 watts = 10,000 gigawatts

so essentially you need around 10,000 gigawatts of power to lift up an ocean to a height of 800 m above manhattan in approximately half an hour. to hold it up there you'll need a negligibly smaller amount of energy every second.